Tim Hall, Emma Blackmore and Peter Bruton have set up Three Joes in Fareham Shopping Centre.

Its speciality is sourdough and the owners pride themselves on using the highest quality ingredients.

Between them, the trio have worked for Pizza Express, Ask and upmarket burger chain Byron.

Tim said: ‘Sourdough pizza is starting to become a big thing in the UK and the response we have had from customers has been fantastic and the restaurant has been really busy.

Three Joes’ pride and joy is its pizza oven – affectionately known as Gerty – which can cook up a variety of wood-fired pizzas including a classic margherita with tomatoes straight from Naples to a pizza topped with hummus, courgette and chillies in just minutes.

Fellow founder and food director Emma, who has previously developed recipes for Pizza Express, Ask Italian and Starbucks, said: ‘The dough itself has probably been a year in development and working out which ingredients are best for our local customers and what we can do that is a bit different has taken months.’

Peter helped found Byron, which now has 55 restaurants around the country, and has previously worked in Fareham.

He said: ‘I used to work for Ask Italian here and it is wonderful to be back.

‘I always felt Fareham was a location that worked as it had such a broad demographic.’

The trio worked closely with Fareham Shopping Centre after choosing the site to create their signature ‘industrial’ modern look.

Peter added: ‘We wanted everyone to feel comfortable and, most important to me, was that we created a restaurant where our families wanted to come.’

Mike Taylor, Centre Manager at Fareham Shopping Centre, said: ‘The recent opening of Three Joes Sourdough Pizza is an exciting addition to the already fantastic retail and eclectic food mix. The centre caters for every need from big name brands to small, quirky independent stores.’

Since the opening, customers have been invited to leave comments about the newest addition to Fareham’s high street.

Tim said: ‘We have had thousands of comments and people are really loving it.

‘We want to open more places locally in Portsmouth like Southsea and also Southampton.’

He added: ‘I hope the business will be successful because we have made somewhere people want to go.’